What lies ahead
by NotQuiteNorm
Summary: Just a short preview because I'm just too hot and sleepy to add the the saga recently.


The inclement of Mount Thanos created the full illusion of it's isolation, for as far as man's eye could reach the glacial mists disguised the air and the universe instead faded into nothingness. Snow, which danced lightly in the bitter cold, rose as Caleb's footsteps disturbed the untouched landscape. A whisper of curving, sultry lips was masked in the shadows of the icy fortress. The heat of magma radiated from the slag of her universe, but the snow outside kept Caleb cooley unaware of the dangers he stood upon. His course was unplanned, but Nerissa's single, slender fingernail ran in a deep thought over and back along the height of a protruding diamond icecap. Were the air to ever clear, one might even consider her imprisonment to be beautiful.

His dark shadow crumbled, and Nerissa watched the creature falter. Her pristine teeth revealed themselves privately, as she could see the tremors of his struggling flesh in the deep winter conditions. Nerissa was aware that he should not have survived the journey. And yet, Caleb was full of surprises.

Her lingering gaze fell over the defined lines of his bold features, though Nerissa struggled to find them in amongst the chaos between them. The muscles visibly tensed along her arm as she purposefully grasped the searing icicle; as though chiding herself to keep a distance. But her attentive scrutiny would not tear itself from him. Nerissa's focus imprinting his physique, for Caleb had long ago abandoned his coat to the woman behind him. Leaving her to fend for herself, for this was his journey. His body looked boyish; his frame distinguished and yet...a famine had come over Caleb for as long as Meridian had been rich with plentiful spoils.

Nerissa's front teeth grazed her rouge, sultry lips; quietly aware that it had been her doing. Nerissa's palm gracefully grazed the uneven surface of blistering cold, until she found without removing her gaze, her signet. The long cane of wiry timber which grew in a crescent of sorts - ready to claim her heart when she recovered it once again. Nerissa's flinch was near-indiscernible, as her numb fingers clumsily let the wood graze quietly across the mountaintop, but without seeking his penetration and her eyes pressed shut in discomposure, Nerissa could be certain that Caleb had seen it. A wide, falsified grin spread over her features and sat perfectly across her classically faultless features. Her eyes naturally glittered the reflection of the ice shards, finding him forcibly and disguising the gentle awe that he was already closer than expected.

It wasn't a thought that the quintessential often came across: that someone other than themselves could be fast and nimble. There was near enough no comparison to her. A Runic would embarrass himself. "Wh-ere is she...?"

It was almost not a question. Caleb's parched, ghostly throat emitted such a hoarse noise that he seemed uncertain that she'd heard him. Nerissa willed her Quintessence upon herself, slightly perturbed that he no longer flinched when she became at the other side of him - faster than lightening. She was closer now, however, and she could feel the little heat emitting from him. Iced powder seemed to gather on his lashes. He flinched inappreciably at her brush, with one thumb gently pushing the frosted dusts away, but he allowed it. A small grimace across his seething features. "Are you cold?"

"W-" Her fingerprint pressed his lips silent. Caleb's gaze was neither enraged, nor impassioned. It was a startling revelation to find the meek floundering of his green eyes, which shone in uncertain emerald and yet sliced deep within her. She wouldn't let him speak her name. Nerissa dropped her finger, rubbing the wound of his scalding presence there in a rouse of clenching and releasing both of the dainty hands of hers. His troubled eyes lingered on them and she flicked her wrist, willing and receiving her staff in her grip, instantly. "I intend to retrieve Wilhelmina. Nerissa."

She whipped around at this. Finding him calm as she bore a disgusted glower with her nostrils flaring recklessly. He had faulted her in seconds and she would flush were she not hesitantly aware of his discomfort. For as long as he knew her, Caleb was cautious. She recognised that he had yet to appreciate her ownership of him. Nerissa stepped purposefully, once, with the very air struggling now to pass between them. His stomach clenched and she felt his breath stop. Nerissa became her stature as she leaned herself toward him, arching slightly and letting her bottom lip purposefully graze his cheek when she spoke as she was so close. Her violet fixing into his unnatural meadows. "I would not disgrace myself with her presence."

"She's..." Nerissa's eyes rolled vivaciously as a true gaiety spread across her lips. Caleb's brow had wired in confusion, and Nerissa threw her head at an angle alluringly; her confidence returned as the child considered what it meant that Wilhelmina was not in fact as convenient as being where she ought to be were she to go missing. She found her hips swaying as she turned from him, laughing audibly at the audacity of her sheltering the vermin. Caleb couldn't seem to comprehend himself, with her jovial mood unable to falter for his stony glare and his harsh attempt at shouting. "What!? You stole her! I am certain! Nerissa!"

"Caleb..." Nerissa turned, dragging her sight over his gripped fists and lion-hearted stance; ready to confront her despite his journey and bluing colour. Nerissa bit her lip, considering his grace, before she smirked and snickered knowingly. "The little urchin has probably run away. I see you were foolish enough to bring her Heart to me."

It stung to give the cretin ownership. But she would play his game. Nerissa could practically feel his grip tighten, protective of it.

All who tasted it's euphoria would find their desires forever bound to it.

It would be a pity if need be that she destroy him in the end. Caleb was handsome.


End file.
